1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a main landing gear bay which stores a main landing gear of an aircraft, and more particularly, to a technique for reducing an aerodynamic drag in the main landing gear bay.
2. Description of the Related Art
Main landing gears including wheels are widely used as an alighting gear of aircraft. Some main landing gears can be stored in a main landing gear bay that is a space provided in a lower portion of an airframe, and are deployed outside from the main landing gear bay on takeoff and landing.
Examples of the main landing gear bay which stores the main landing gear include a type including a door for closing an opening of the main landing gear bay so as to reduce an aerodynamic drag in a state in which the main landing gear is stored (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-50856), and a type not including a door such that the main landing gear is exposed outside via an opening of the main landing gear bay.
Since the door is not provided in the main landing gear bay of the type in which the main landing gear is exposed outside, the weight of an airframe can be advantageously reduced by an amount corresponding to the weight of the door and a device for driving the door. In this type, however, since the main landing gear bay remains open during a flight, the aerodynamic drag tends to become relatively large as compared to that of the type including the door.
Recently, there is a strong demand for an improvement in fuel consumption for aircraft. To this end, reducing an aerodynamic drag generated in an airframe as well as improving the fuel consumption of an engine itself and reducing the weight of an airframe is considered as an important issue. As a result of intense study by the inventors of the present application, particularly, an aerodynamic drag generated in an opening portion of the main landing gear bay is estimated to account for a few % of an entire airframe drag of aircraft. Therefore, in the aircraft of the type in which the main landing gear bay remains open during a flight, it is expected to further reduce the aerodynamic drag generated in the main landing gear bay in order to improve the fuel consumption of the aircraft.
An object of the present invention is to reduce an aerodynamic drag in a main landing gear bay that remains open during a flight.